Los Ebanos Rd. canal retaining wall collapses

Mission hero honored in The Netherlands

By Kathy Olivarez

MARGRATEN, NETHERLANDS – A two-ton, six-foot-high pink granite monument now marks the spot where a Mission soldier was killed by enemy artillery 65 years ago in the Netherlands.

The monument honoring Pvt. Albert Strahle Jr. of Mission was erected this year in Cadier en Keer and unveiled in a special ceremony on Sept. 13, the 65th anniversary of the tiny village from German occupation. Strahle was the only American soldier killed as U.S. forces liberated the village.

Strahle, a Mission resident, was killed Sept. 13, 1944 in Cadier en Keer while unloading goods from a supply truck. A ceremony honoring Strahle’s ultimate sacrifice was held when a monument in his honor was unveiled on Sept. 13. Missionites who attended the event included Joe Phillips, a first cousin once removed to Albert Strahle. Aida Lerma, City of Mission Deputy City Manager, and her husband, Jesse Lerma, Mission’s Civil Service Director, represented the City of Mission. Kathy Olivarez with the Progress Times and Jane Garza, whose late husband was a World War II veteran, also accompanied the Mission delegation.

Four members of Old Hickory, the 117th U.S. Army regiment that freed Cadier en Keer, were also present with members of their family. There are approximately 50 known members of the regiment still living today but only six were able to make the trip, and four were present for the unveiling of the monument.

For the Americans who attended the solemn event with an estimated 2,000 Dutch citizens from the area, the ceremony honoring the soldier who died giving the Dutch their freedom from Nazi occupation, it was an eye-opener. It was very emotional to see the reverence held for Americans in these small villages that were freed.

The ceremony began with a parade where men dressed in World War II military uniforms drove military vehicles used during the war. Joe Phillips was in the lead Jeep with Jesse and Aida Lerma in a military truck following behind. A large crowd gathered around the monument, which was placed on the site where Strahle was killed. Today, the land nearby is used for a golf course.

Prior to the arrival of the Americans in 1944, the Dutch had been under the control of the Nazi’s since 1940. While there was a small Dutch army, it had only lasted five days against the German “lightning wars.” The people of Cadier en Keer had barricaded the main road, which led from nearby Maastricht into Aachen Germany. The road would become one of the main supply routes for Nazi supply convoys from Germany to other areas of Europe it was conquering.

It took only seven minutes for the Germans to get a bulldozer to the barricade and knock it down. After that, they were under occupation. Times were tough as the Germans took many horses and bicycles used for transportation and made it difficult for the Dutch to market their dairy, vegetable and fruit products.

Every five years there is a big ceremony at the American Cemetery in Margraten honoring the veterans and their families who come from America to visit the cemetery. Some come because friends and family members are buried there while others want to return to the area where they served in World War II.

“We must find ways that our children do not forget the sacrifices that were made so that they could enjoy the freedoms they have today,” said Lando Muleeners, a member of the Cadier en Keer Historical Committee that planned the monument and the ceremonies that took place earlier this month, some 65 years after the Americans freed the villages and the surrounding Dutch countryside.

Mulleeners said most of the soldiers who freed the area have died or are no longer able to travel. The community wanted another way to remind the village youth of the sacrifice the Americans made for them. Because Pvt. Albert Strahle was the only American killed when their villages were liberated, they decided to erect a monument in his honor.

“Freedom should not be taken for granted,” said Harry Beckers, a former Margraten deputy mayor and a member of the local historical committee, as he welcomed guests who came to the ceremony.

He explained that the monument had been selected as a way of reminding the youth of the area that American lives had been sacrificed so that they could live in freedom.

“With fewer veterans and residents alive to tell the story of occupation, it was necessary to erect the memorial to remind citizens of what had happened to their communities,” said Margraten’s Deputy Mayor J. Custers. “It is truly an honor to be invited to take part in honoring the Mission soldier who gave his all for our community. We must instill in our children that they never forget the freedom given to us by the American soldiers.”

Margraten consists of nine small villages, including the village of Cadier en Keer; it could be compared to an American county.

argraten is where the American Cemetery is located with the remains of 8,301 American soldiers. Cadier and Keer, at the time of the war, were two small villages with populations under 2,000. Today, the villages have grown together with a population of about 4,000 and are referred to as Cadier en Keer. Margraten has a population of about 13,000. It is located in the province of Limberg.

Vicar J. Smele blessed the monument and called it “a stone marking our freedom.” He called Strahle’s death “the ultimate sacrifice of a brave soldier for our liberation.” He said the sacrifice had not been made in vain but was bearing fruit every day.

Aida Lerma told the crowd, “It was truly an honor to be invited to the ceremony where a Mission soldier, who gave his all for your community, was being so honored for his sacrifice.”

Although Phillips never knew Strahle himself, he grew up hearing stories about him. Phillips explained that his grandmother, Birdie Phillips was a sister to Albert Strahle Sr. who was Pvt. Strahle Jr’s father. Strahle’s mother died when he was two or three and the family was living in Llano. Albert Strahle Sr. then moved to Mission where he became a Texaco consignee. He was instrumental in getting Fred Phillips Sr., his sister’s husband, to move to McAllen and become a Texaco consignee there. Because they were both only children, Fred Phillips Jr., Joe Phillips’ father, and Albert Strahle Jr. were raised together more like brothers than first cousins. Although Albert Strahle Jr. had married before entering the service, he had no children of his own.

Phillips told the crowd that Strahle was an avid baseball fan who once saw Babe Ruth hit a home run in Yankee stadium.

“He was pure American with a German heritage,” Phillips said. “Albert died doing what soldiers have done since time immemorial. He followed orders, fought for his country and people and put his life on the line. His unit was ordered to drive the Germans from Cadier en Keer. They succeeded in their mission. And Albert died from artillery fire.”

Phillips said his family saw Strahle as a hero. He fought against a dictatorship for the freedom of his country and other peoples. He willingly put his life in danger in battle after battle and then he reached Cadier en Keer, where he gave the ultimate sacrifice.

“Without Albert, without the Allied soldiers, without the resistance fighters, some of whom also are being honored this weekend, the story of the 20th century would be markedly different,” he said.

American Cemetery in Margraten is subject of documentary

MARGRATEN, NETHERLANDS — Approximately 500 viewed a documentary based on the book, From Farmland to Soldiers Cemetery by Mieke Kirkels and Jo Purnot, about the construction of an American cemetery during the celebration of the Cadier en Keer liberation weekend, earlier this month.

In the documentary, Rich Prevoo told his story of working in the fields with his father pulling up sugar beets to feed the cattle when they noticed piles of dirt in one of their fields. With a neighbor, his father went to investigate what was happening and found that American soldiers were burying their dead in the pasture. A machine was trenching the land and using it for temporary burial of troops.

His father went to the town mayor and was told nothing could be done because there was a war. The Americans had a policy that no American would be buried on enemy soil, so as they were killed in Germany, the bodies were brought back to the Netherlands for burial. The Dutch government had given permission to use the land around Margraten for a cemetery. The American government eventually paid them for the land.

Wiel Oostenbach remembered his father saying, “It was for a good cause, to help those people bury their dead.” Their land was eventually returned to them as many of the soldiers originally buried at Margraten were sent home for burial at the request of their families.

As the fighting continued and there were more casualties this created additional problems. Farmers went out one morning to harvest a field of rye and found none. The Americans had shredded the field and were burying more dead. Another family was digging potatoes in their field when the Americans started digging a road right across the middle of the pasture. The Dutch had to fight to get the potatoes harvested before they were buried under the road.

In spite of the hardships of losing land, the villagers talk about how happy they were to see the American soldiers arrive. Hub Bessems remembered the soldiers giving him a bar of chocolate, the first he had ever eaten. The men soon became frequent visitors in his home where his mother did their laundry and they gave her soap and food in return.

Because some unnamed general had declared that it was not wise to put guns in the hands of people who had previously been oppressed, most blacks were given service jobs like digging graves.

William Solms was a soldier who landed at Normandy and eventually made his way to Cadier en Keer. Although he was white, he was a second lieutenant in charge of 260 black soldiers. When he arrived Nov. 19, 1944 there were already a group of 300 soldiers stacked like cords of wood awaiting burial.

The real work would begin Dec. 16 when the Battle of the Bulge began. At one time there were more than 20,000 bodies in the cemetery. Some German soldiers were also buried there.

Jefferson Wiggins was one of the men assigned to the company who dug the graves. Wiggins said he felt that the black men ought to be able to fight like the white men because America was their country, too.

“Some of the soldiers we buried were the same age as I was and I was one of the youngest soldiers in the U.S. Army,” Wiggins recalled.

Wiggins said some men burying soldiers cried at the sight of the bodies. They had trouble sleeping for weeks after seeing some of the bodies with limbs blown off or faces missing. Wiggins said the men had to be careful because the Germans would sometimes place grenades on the bodies in hopes of killing more Americans when the bodies were picked up for burials.

When the Battle of the Bulge began, there were too many bodies for the American soldiers to bury. Dutch citizens were hired to help with the burials. Bodies arrived in body bags made of mattress ticking. They were later reburied in bronze caskets lined with white pleated silk for a more permanent burial.

The townspeople were desperate for material and women began asking for the discarded wrappings from the bodies. They would boil the material in soap and bleach and use it to make blouses or other clothes. Boots were removed from bodies and given to the living that didn’t have shoes.

One of the Dutch hired was Harry Steijns who recalled seeing trucks arrive with body fluids dripping from them. The stench was almost unbelievable, Steijns said.

Wiel Frints was another one of about 80 Dutchmen who worked at the American Cemetery. When he began in 1955, there was not a blade of grass anywhere. The men worked eight-hour shifts on weekdays and five-hour shifts on Saturdays. Frints’s job was to level the ground, then sow the grass. Afterward, the crosses or Stars of David were installed on the graves. By 1960, the cemetery was finished.

Today, the people of Margraten take great pride in the cemetery. Every five years a commemoration ceremony is held and veterans are invited to return to the Netherlands. Many family members whose relatives are buried there have made the journey to see the graves.

After many bodies were sent home – including the body of Pvt. Albert Strahle Jr. who is buried in Mission – 8,301 graves remain, making this the second largest war cemetery in Europe. Only Normandy is larger. Families in the Margraten area have adopted the graves of the soldiers who remain. They visit the graves on the American Memorial Day and place flowers on each grave. Many have researched the people in the graves they adopted and have contact with the families of the fallen soldiers.

Los Ebanos Rd. canal retaining wall collapses

MISSION — Following this week’s downpours, a canal retaining wall at Los Ebanos Road south of Farm-to-Market 495 has collapsed, leaving the city to work overtime in getting a replacement.

Mission city officials met for an emergency meeting yesterday to authorize City Manager Julio Cerda to work with McAllen Construction on replacing the wall and hiring L&G Engineering for the design and material testing.

Cerda said the wall collapsed on Wednesday.

“It’s an old wall,” he said in an interview. “The rain with it can’t hold the pressure and it pushed the wall down.”
Along with soil erosion, the heavy 4-foot wall could cause more damage.

“It’s better to prevent the rest falling,” he explained.

On Wednesday after a portion of the wall collapsed Mission street crews made minor fixes to the wall, but the construction company on Thursday worked to hold back the wall with a barricade along the canal for a temporary fix.

“That should hold the wall back up,” Cerda said, adding that the temporary fix could last forever. “(But) we want a good designed wall to be back up as soon as possible.”

It’s unclear how much the construction of a new wall could cost, Cerda said before meeting with the contracting company prior to the City Council emergency meeting. Cerda said he could bring the council figures on the cost later after engineers provide a design, which could happen by the week’s end.

Although the United Irrigation District owns the canal, it is the responsibility of the city to maintain it.

Irrigation officials also suggested the city work immediately to make repairs to avoid having the canal burst, which is a major concern of the city.

If the canal bursts, the surrounding homes could be damaged by almost two days of water pouring from the canal, Cerda said.
“The canal is our source of raw water,” he said, adding that the city’s water plant and the Sharyland Water Supply Corp. also depend on the water from the canal.

There’s enough water on reserve, he said, but the city must address the problem.

The wall hasn’t needed or had any maintenance or repairs done, Cerda said. The wall doesn’t require maintenance, only repairs as needed, such as this collapse.

The canal at Los Ebanos Road is the only area in the city with a retaining wall that runs close to a city street. The others have sloped embankments.

Under a normal circumstance, without heavy rainfall, the city would take about a month and a half to draft a design for the new wall and advertise for bids before beginning the work. But the fall at Los Ebanos Road, and the uncertainty of the weather, Cerda said the wall needs to be fixed.

Got a fever? Stay home, officials say

H1N1: Fighting off influenza

By Edwina P. Garza

MISSION — Days immediately following the first outbreaks of H1N1, local stores found themselves without hand sanitizers and even face masks as Rio Grande Valley residents fought to keep themselves free from the novel influenza.

Meanwhile in schools, parents were keeping their children out of class to avoid the unknown illness and school districts worked to clear classrooms of germs to ease fears.

Novel H1N1 is similar to a seasonal flu and contracted in the same manner, through droplets from a cough or from a sneeze. But unlike a seasonal flu, most people don’t have the antibodies to fight off the virus.

Local and state health officials immediately began reaching out to the public, offering simple, yet vital advice.

“People who are ill should stay home,” said Dr. Brian Smith, the Texas Department of State Health Services regional director based in Harlingen. “People sick and with symptoms can get other people sick a day before they’re really sick.”

To ensure that the virus doesn’t contaminate others, health officials warn that someone with novel H1N1 stay home until they are free from symptoms, including a fever, for 24 hours.

Back in April, when reports of H1N1 in schools started to appear and local schools were shut down, some influenza plans at schools flew out the window. Magda Sauceda, the coordinator for health services at Mission Consolidated Independent School District, said their plans, however, remained the same.

District officials pulled data from their weekly totals of influenza to determine if the district had an outbreak pattern of its own.
“We weren’t too, too alarmed,” Sauceda recalled.

As the district dealt with the news and suggestions from the Centers for Disease Control and the Texas Department of State Health Services, nurses here kept addressing the new influenza like the seasonal flu.

“Any child or adult that has a fever, that’s a good indication something’s going on,” she said. “That means they’re most contagious. Our nurses are real vigilant and isolate those kids or adults or send them home.”

Along with monitoring any instances of H1N1 and seasonal flu symptoms, the district also worked with its maintenance department to ensure every restroom had soap and paper towels. Maintenance workers also worked to clean the surfaces of keyboards, desks and door handles.

While the district has sent notices home with students about getting vaccinated and students are informed about frequent hand washing and coughing etiquette – students are even allowed more time before and after eating to properly wash their hands, Sauceda said controlling the virus is out of everyone’s hands.

“Reality is we’re not going to keep it out,” she said. “I can’t tell (parents) that their child isn’t going to get sick; I can try to reassure them as much as possible. We’re going to try to avoid exposure.”

Other local school districts, including La Joya and Sharyland also have implemented strict cleaning schedules and sent students home with information about proper hygiene.

Sharyland’s H. Shimotsu Elementary is having every teacher supervise students’ hand washing before eating and reminding them to wash their hands after using the restroom, officials said this week.

Also, because computer keyboards have been identified as a major source of spreading gastrointestinal viruses in elementary schools, students will be asked to wash hands before using computers.

“In the next couple of weeks every student and staff member will be trained to use the same technique practiced in health care settings,” an SISD news release states. “It is easy and logical, and Shimotsu assumes that even the youngest children can master it with pride. Ultimately, the H. Shimotsu Elementary expects the extra time and attention required by scheduled school-wide hand washing will be more than worth the effort. As always, anything families can do to reinforce their efforts will be much appreciated.”

Along with asking teachers to send students with fevers to the nurse’s office as soon as symptoms arise, MCISD is also looking at “non-pharmaceutical intervention.” In elementary schools, having students face each other provides a perfect way to spread germs, which could become problematic.

“It works well for educating, but it doesn’t work well for germs,” Sauceda said.

Should students start to get sick, MCISD is asking teachers to move the desks to have the students all facing the same direction.

Centers for Disease Control has said that it won’t be necessary to close schools in the event of H1N1 cases within a school. Only in cases where the majority of students with H1N1 are considered a high-risk group can a school close. At that time, it’s up to the school board to decide on closing the school because of an outbreak, health officials said.

It’s recommended that schools create isolation areas for students who are sick before they are taken home to avoid getting other children and staff sick.

Eddie Olivarez, the chief administrator for the Hidalgo County Health & Human Services, said the county would also help schools make those decisions.

“If it’s a severe outbreak, we might encourage that activities close, like recreational programs, but that would have to be extremely severe cases,” Olivarez said. “We don’t see that happening this time.”

It’s important that people realize how the virus is transmitted and how to avoid exposure, Olivarez said.

“If we can get that information in every household, 80 percent of this battle will be fought,” he added.

Health officials are also suggesting that people get the seasonal flu shot to help protect against other strains of flu expected this season. The vaccination, along with good health habits, like frequent hand washing, is the first line of defense.

“Many people put off getting the shot and making preparations in the event they or another family member becomes ill with flu,” said Dr. Edward Sherwood, chair of the Texas Medical Association Committee on Infectious Diseases. “To keep our communities and nation running smoothly, families should have a plan.”

MCISD recently offered seasonal flu vaccinations and is considering hosting another event soon, Sauceda said. At last week’s event, 500 staff and community members got immunized, 200 more than last year.

“That tells me that people are taking it serious,” she said of advice from health officials. “We’re trying to work with the community.”

Although seasonal flu vaccine is recommended for everyone, priority groups for seasonal flu vaccine are children age six months to 19 years, pregnant women, people over 50 years of age, those with a long-term illness or weak immune system, those who care for or work with ill patients, and people who care for children younger than six months old.

“We’re anticipating a worse than normal flu season this year,” said Sherwood, who is also a member of TMA’s Be Wise — Immunize Advisory Panel.

Health officials suggest that families arrange for childcare in advance in case a child becomes sick and an adult needs to go to work. Have supplies on hand or have someone who can bring groceries if the adult gets the flu.

While the H1N1 vaccine could be available within the next few weeks, Smith said it’s still vital for state officials to continue public health awareness on hygiene.

“We just have to take this as it comes,” he said of H1N1. “We have to get together as one.”

For local school districts it starts at home with parents educating their children, Sauceda said. MCISD has also instructed its School Health Advisory Council on novel H1N1.

“Parents are key,” she explained. “We’re just half of the battle. We need the other half to step up.”

Hidalgo County awarded two service awards

By Edwina P. Garza

EDINBURG — For the first time in its history, Hidalgo County was awarded two Best Practice awards from the Texas Association of Counties Leadership Foundation this week.

The awards were given for the county’s levee/barrier and Deaf Link projects.

The first award was for achievement in community improvement for the county’s effort in working with state and federal law makers to renovate the levee system here as part of the federal border fence project.

The second award honors Hidalgo and Cameron counties for delivery of services in health and human services for the Deaf Link program, which uses local television stations to provide 140,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals with emergency alerts in American Sign Language. These two counties spearheaded a national precedent and worked collaboratively with the private sector and other government agencies for this service.

“This is the first time in the history of the TAC Leadership Foundation Best Practices Awards that Hidalgo County has been recognized,” said Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas III. “When our office set its internal priorities, we said to ourselves that we wanted to achieve this high level of service, to set an example for county governments around the state. And we achieved our goal not once but twice with two awards.”

Officials said Hidalgo County is one of 13 counties around the state being honored for involving innovative programs that deliver quality services and protect taxpayer dollars.

Out of the 254 counties in Texas, 83 applied for awards, TAC officials said.

The programs were selected to receive high honors for innovation, achievement and delivery of service in the 2009 County Best Practice Awards, which recognize county initiatives that serve as a model to others and save taxpayer monies.

“People in counties across Texas are coming up with such creative solutions,” said TAC past president and current Brazos County District Clerk Marc Hamlin. “Counties have so few streams of revenue, and every good idea that can be shared is terribly important.”

Salinas said Hidalgo County Drainage District Director Godfrey Garza was vital in the levee system, and credited Commissioner Place 2 Hector “Tito” Palacios for pressuring the district to get the work done.

“These programs that are being recognized were the result of innovation, diligence and out-of-the-box thinking on the part of so many departments county-wide – the drainage district, the commissioners and precincts, our budget and auditing departments, our health department and the emergency services division,” Salinas said. “We are so proud that the TAC Leadership Foundation is highlighting Hidalgo County’s programs, which are a reflection of the hard work and dedication of the staff here.”

Mission Ciztizen Awards deadline is Wednesday

Just a few more days remain to submit nominations for the Mission Citizen Awards. Mission area residents are reminded that the deadline to submit nominations for Mission’s Citizens Awards—Mr. Mission, First Lady of Mission, Man of the Year and Woman of the Year—is Wednesday, Sept. 30.

The Progress Times, sponsor of the awards, will present the honorees at the Greater Mission Chamber of Commerce annual banquet to be held in October.

Nominations may be submitted in person at the Progress Times office at 1217 N. Conway or by mail to Citizen Awards, c/o Progress Times, P.O. Box 399, Mission, Texas 78573. Nominations may also be submitted by email to awards@progresstimes.net or by fax to 956-585-2304.

Nomination forms are available at the Progress Times office and on the newspaper’s website: www.progresstimes.net. Forms may be requested by fax: 956-585-2304 or email: awards@progresstimes.net.

Man and Woman of Year

Selection criteria for Man of the Year and Woman of the Year are as follows:

To be recognized for superior service either for a significant project or continuing broad service to the community in the past two to 10 years. This may be for work with one organization or for work in several different areas or organizations. The combined duration of service should span no less than two years.

May be for work in civic, church or community groups, or may be for exceptional professional or vocational performance if these labors have had significant impact on the citizens of Mission.

Must be a resident of Mission or work in Mission.

Service will be measured in terms of its impact on the entire community as a whole as well as to a particular organization.

Mr. Mission and First Lady

Selection criteria for Mr. Mission and First Lady of Mission are the following:

Must have provided long term service to Mission through a civic or church group or in a professional or vocational endeavor or through charitable or benevolent service to the community or a combination of these factors. Emphasis will be given to civic or charitable work.

Service must be ongoing and cover a minimum of 11 years.

Length of service, character and integrity will be among considerations.

Value of service to the community in general is the primary factor.

Must live, work or have significant business interests in Mission.

Nomination Procedure

Nominations must include the nominee’s name, address and phone number as well as the qualifications of the individual.

ualifications may include positions and offices held, number of years of service and a description of the service the individual has given. Also, list any honors the individual has received, whether civic, church, or professional. Include a description of what is particularly outstanding about this individual. Also, include the name and telephone number of the person submitting the nomination.

Last year’s honorees for the awards were Father Roy Snipes, Mr. Mission; Luisa Ruiz, First Lady of Mission; Bill Filut, Man of the Year; and Kathy Brown, Woman of the Year.

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